The Titanic Was an Avoidable Tragedy

Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater – For movie buffs in the 1990s, when you heard someone talking about “Jack and Rose,” you would probably think Titanic. You would think about the Love and Mystery, Excitement and Suspense. You might hear comments like: “What a great movie” or “Oh, it’s just a movie… It wasn’t really that bad.” The latter people would be correct: it was worse. The Titanic was so much more than a movie could ever depict. Death, destruction, terror, sadness: those were the emotions for the people aboard the Titanic. The disaster that is Titanic could have easily been avoided, and the needless loss of life would have been spared, if just minor changes in planning were taken heed of at the beginning of the voyage.

Yes, the Titanic had a tragic ending, but life on the ship was far from tragic –until the crash that is. Titanic and her sister ships, Olympia and Britannica, were considered some of the most exquisite ships in the world. The Titanic was called the “Ship of dreams,” for it was the most elegant of the ships. On Wednesday, March 31, 1909, the keel was laid and construction quickly began soon thereafter. The ship took almost a year and a half to build and was 882 feet 9 inches long, 94 feet wide and 100 feet high to the bridge level. The final cost reached an astounding £1,500,000 or approximately $7,500,000.

Why did Titanic sink you might ask? Had it not been nicknamed the unsinkable ship? Yes it had; however, it was not the only ship called “unsinkable.” “Most ships were called unsinkable because they had watertight compartments to limit flooding in case of an accident.” This was also somewhat to excite the people that a new ship was arriving and to also make them feel safer if they decided t...

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...thers were afraid since third class passengers were last in line for the very few boats left, they might try to overtake some for themselves and thus put even more people’s lives in danger. With gates locked and everyone gone, they had no way to escape, and, thus, their “cabin to America” became their watery grave.

April 15, 1912-- that day will forever be remembered by many people all over the world. It is sad to look back almost one hundred years ago and think, “Wow, that really happened, all the people who died really shouldn’t have.” All the needless loss of life is a sad, sad thought.

Bibliography

Spitz, D.J. Investigation of Bodies in Water. In Spitz and Fisher’s Medicolegal Investigation of Death: Guideline for the Application of Pathology to Crime Investigations, 4th ed. Ed. W.U. & Spitz, D.J. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas, 2006.